Forced Me to Regress, Huh? - Chapter 9: Interesting

After everything happened, Jiang Wanzhou finally returned after tidying his hair in the restroom for about five minutes.

As soon as he sat down, Shen Minglang said, “Little CEO Jiang, do you want to place a bet on the finals? My cousin has already asked me to bet for him.”

As his genuine cousin, Jiang Wanzhou rolled his eyes at him and asked curiously, “Cheng Zhu, what did you bet on?”

“I bet on a 0-0 score for Germany vs. Argentina,” Cheng Zhu replied honestly and explained what 0-0 meant.

Knowing that Jiang Wanzhou would immediately ask him how much he wagered, he quickly continued, “Trust your Brother Zhu and place the same bet.”

“Trust you, your head. You don’t know anything about soccer,” Jiang Wanzhou said retorted, unimpressed.

Shen Minglang interjected, “So, Little CEO Jiang, are you betting or not?”

“I’ll bet. 0-0 draw for Germany vs Argentina, two thousand,” Jiang Wanzhou said.

He didn’t know anything about betting. What odds? What scoreline? None of it mattered to him.

He just wanted to join and feel more involved.

“Hey, I thought you didn’t trust me?” Cheng Zhu smiled.

“It’s not you I trust. It’s just that I have a vague intuition!” Jiang Wanzhou replied. “Consider yourself lucky. With my bet boosting your luck, you’ll definitely win.”

Cheng Zhu shrugged, not commenting.

He understood Jiang Wanzhou’s personality and knew he would definitely place the exact bet.

The goal was to unify their emotions. If they lost, they would curse together. If they won, they would celebrate together.

Cheng Zhu naturally wouldn’t say anything to encourage him to bet more, even though he knew Jiang Wanzhou had more than enough capital.

Small bets are for fun. Big bets are harmful. Compulsive gamblers don’t end well.

Just playing a bit is fine. I can’t let him get too much of a taste and set a bad precedent, Cheng Zhu thought.

Personally, he believed that compulsive gamblers never ended well.

But I’m not gambling. Not knowing the outcome is what makes it gambling. I’m purely cheating.

It’s exclusive to cheaters. Fools shouldn’t try to copy.

After Shen Minglang helped Jiang Wanzhou place his bet, he immediately turned to his sister with a smile. “Ningning, let me place a bet for you too. If you win, it’s yours. If you lose, it’s on me.”

“No need,” Shen Qingning replied directly.

“It’s fine. Otherwise, you’ll be bored here. I won’t bet much. I’ll bet the same as our Little CEO Jiang,” Shen Minglang insisted, wanting to please his sister while also joining in on the 0-0 excitement.

As mentioned earlier, Shen Minglang was straightforward and liked to show off. His sister was so beautiful and had such an amazing aura that she was a source of pride for him in his circle. As a result, he doted on Shen Qingning and felt that no one around him was worthy of being his brother-in-law.

As a man, he understood men all too well.

You bastards want to pursue my sister? In your dreams!

Seeing how insistent he was, Shen Qingning didn’t refuse anymore. “Suit yourself. But send me home before midnight. If you want to watch the game, come back yourself.”

The finals wouldn’t start until 3 a.m., and she knew she wouldn’t be able to stay awake. It wasn’t good for her skin.

“Okay. Look, I didn’t even drink a sip of alcohol on purpose,” Shen Minglang said with a cheeky smile.

With everybody chatting back and forth, Jiang Wanzhou forgot to ask Cheng Zhu how much he had bet.

Meanwhile, on Li Xinyue’s side, Chen Rongrong said with a conflicted expression, “I kind of want to watch the finals here, but it’s not good to go home so late.”

She knew nothing about soccer, but she had invested 500 yuan after all. Moreover, she felt the atmosphere in the bar was quite nice and wanted to join in the excitement.

She had just posted her bet on WeChat Moments, making sure to block her family from seeing it. She received comments from over a dozen boys, and she liked the feeling of having a shared topic with them.

“Just call and say you’re staying at my house tonight,” Li Xinyue said.

“Okay, sounds good!”

Of course, Li Xinyue would also tell her parents that she was staying at Chen Rongrong’s house tonight.

Li Rui was overjoyed when he heard this. This meant he was the first man to accompany Li Xinyue to stay out until dawn!

He even started feeling giddy.

* * *

Around midnight, Shen Qingning stood up and asked Shen Minglang to send her home.

“Little CEO Jiang, Cousin, I’ll be back in a bit!” Shen Minglang smiled.

After getting up, Shen Qingning said a few words to Shen Minglang before heading straight to the restroom.

Shen Minglang went behind the bar counter to check the bar’s earnings for the night.

Li Xinyue had been observing them. When Chen Rongrong saw Shen Minglang enter the bar area, she said, “Why did he go there? He’s even talking to the staff.”

“Could he be the owner here?” Chen Rongrong speculated boldly.

Then she glanced at Li Rui.

After all, on the way here, Li Rui had said he was pretty familiar with Hidden’s owner.

Li Rui’s expression changed drastically as he quickly improvised. “He’s probably one of the shareholders, but he’s not the owner I know.”

Chen Rongrong and Li Xinyue looked at each other, and the two girls began whispering about why Cheng Zhu was sitting at the same table as one of the bar’s shareholders.

In fact, what Chen Rongrong was most interested in was the woman sitting opposite Cheng Zhu. Her looks and temperament were too outstanding. She would definitely be a goddess at school.

Moreover, she looked like a beautiful, noble, and pampered woman from a wealthy family, exuding an air of luxury and privilege.

But Chen Rongrong knew better than to talk about her with Li Xinyue.

“Huh? Cheng Zhu stood up too. Oh, he’s going to the bathroom,” Chen Rongrong commented, sounding like a war correspondent reporting the news.

Li Xinyue suddenly stood up and said, “I’m going to talk to him!”

Her face tense, she quickly walked towards the restroom.

Seeing this, Li Rui opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but no words came out. His heart instantly felt suffocated.

Outside the restroom, Li Xinyue stopped Cheng Zhu. “Cheng Zhu! What are you doing at this bar?!”

Cheng Zhu glanced at her but ignored her and continued walking towards the men’s restroom.

The restroom area was separated from the outside by a curtain, which emboldened Li Xinyue to act more assertively.

She pulled Cheng Zhu back and asked angrily, “What’s with your attitude?!”

Cheng Zhu looked at her speechlessly, feeling that this little fairy had a serious problem with her brain.

Sure enough, people are different, he thought.

In his past life, he had encountered some girls of the same age who were so ‘mature’ that they would cling to him tightly and whisper in his ear, “It’s okay if you do it inside. I can take medicine.”

But there were also girls who were so willful that they believed they were never in the wrong.

Their recent argument was because Li Xinyue had got a ‘Boyfriend Exam’ she found on Weibo and insisted that Cheng Zhu take the test so she could compare his answers and score him. She had even warned him that if he failed, he’d be in trouble.

Cheng Zhu looked at the questions and instantly lost interest.

It was all outrageous questions like ‘If your mom and I fell into the water, who would you save first?’

Cheng Zhu had no desire to take such a test, and as their conversation escalated, Li Xinyue got upset.

Eventually, she started threatening to break up again. But this time, he didn’t indulge her.

At this moment, Cheng Zhu stood there staring at Li Xinyue until she let go of his shirt.

For some reason, she actually felt flustered when she met his gaze. She felt that his eyes had changed, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“It was okay for you to act up when we were dating, but now that we’ve broken up, let’s part on good terms, okay?” Cheng Zhu said calmly.

“Just because of that?” Li Xinyue’s temper flared up again, and she glared at him.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason. But they weren’t in a long-distance relationship yet, so the subsequent events had yet to unfold.

At this moment, Shen Qingning walked out of the women’s restroom. After casually looking over, she didn’t say anything and went to wash her hands at the sink, treating the two of them like air.

Li Xinyue instantly felt uncomfortable and didn’t continue the conversation.

After all, Shen Qingning’s aura was too cold and imposing.

On the other hand, Cheng Zhu didn’t care at all. To him, it didn’t matter whether there were people around or not. He shrugged and smiled. “Yes, it’s just because of that. I think I’ve said this before, right?

“If you still can’t remember it after I’ve said it a few times, then forget it. Making you unhappy doesn’t reflect well on me either.”

With that, he ignored Li Xinyue and turned to enter the men’s restroom.

Meanwhile, Shen Qingning finished washing her hands, pulled out a paper towel, and meticulously wiped the water droplets on her long, slender fingers as though no one was around.